Cadenheads Blended Scotch 20 #10

Cadenheads Blended Scotch 20 46%abv
This whisky is made up using a sherry cask solera system and is made up of 65% malt and 35% grain. This is batch 2, which contains some of batch 1 (whats in batch 1?.....No idea, google it), some Benrinnes and some Strathclyde grain whisky.

Colour
Dark....really dark!

Nose
Leather, old dusty book shop, dunnage warehouse, red fruits, stewed strawberry, figs, lots of polished oak, wood spice, brown sugar, molasses

Palate
Ginger is first up, cola cubes, strawberry jam, brown sugar, chili milk chocolate, coffee and a bit of cask char.

Finish
slight chili milk chocolate digestives

Overall
This is one of the best blends I had tried! The colour is one of the darkest iv seen (I would have loved to have even just seen it at cask strength) I have really enjoyed this bottle and have gave samples out, all with positive reports back. But I still cannot help but think how much better it could have been at cask strength.

Score
9.25 out of -A

I don't think this is available anymore but with the system they use I am sure another will not be far away. Grab it!

:)

Glen Breton 12 Ice Wine Cask #9

Glen Breton 12 Ice Wine Cask 40%abv
This whisky is from a distillery in Canada, is bottled at 40% and matured in Ice Wine Casks. What more is there to say really?

Nose
Quite fresh, green fruits, some white grape, icing sugar, sweet grain.

Palate
A bit of citrus, lots of vanilla, white chocolate, white grapes again and lots of sweet grain - digestives.

Finish
A bit spicy, grapefruit, bitter vanilla

Overall
Its really not bad at all, quite simple but tasty. It is very sweet and you do get the wine influence. Given other things matured in ice wine casks, this is a lot cheaper. If only it was a higher abv...

Score
8 out of B

Not much to say on this one really, a nice simple whisky, If you like the sound of it, go for it, its not to expensive.

:)

Batels Whisky 17 Year Old Malt Blend #8

Bartels Whisky 17 Year Old Malt Blend 45%abv
Bartels kindly sent all of the #MiniTasting crew including myself a sample of this whisky.
I am of the understanding this malt blend is made up of three Edrington malts, think back seventeen years to what they owned and you may get a rough idea of what may be in there. It is from a single cask, natural colour, non-chill filtered and cask strength. But there are only fifty bottles available!
So when all is said and done, its quite an interesting cask of whisky...

Colour
Dark polished copper

Nose
Orange, dunnage warehouse, honeyed malt, little bit of chocolate, ginger and polished oak, toffee. This is not a "sherry bomb" though, its still quite fresh - with green fruits. It does indicate there is some older stuff in there though.

Palate
Quite spicy, citrus - sweet lemon, malty biscuits, bitter chocolate, coffee. Quite creamy, nutty, stewed fruits - orange, apple, pear. Getting notes from both ex sherry and ex bourbon casks on this.

Finish
Medium - ish in length. Milk chocolate turning to dark chocolate, a little bit of citrus again, grapefruit.

Overall
As blends go its really quite nice. I could sit and enjoy this with out thinking about it too much. There is some complexity to it and the flavours blend together nicely. I don't think it will blow your socks off but if you like a nice blend, go for it.
Then the thing that wins this over - the price, £36 for this! You really can not go wrong at that price.

Score
I am scoring this whisky and taking the price into consideration here:
8.5 out of B
But on this one given the price, 100% ignore my opinion and find out for yourself!


If you are in the market for a bottle, have a look on Bartels website, where (at the time of writing) there are 23 bottles left.
https://www.bartelswhisky.com/shop/blended-scotch-whisky-17yo/

:)